May 12, 2013
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The Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. / Susan Walsh, AP

by Gregory Korte, USA TODAY

by Gregory Korte, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service official responsible for tax-exempt organizations was briefed in 2011 that her unit was targeting Tea Party groups for additional scrutiny, according to a draft timeline of events compiled by the agency's inspector general.

That chronology cast doubt on a statement to reporters Friday by IRS Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner that she only learned of the enhanced reviews through news reports last year, and that only low-level employees were involved in the decision. The scandal broke Friday when Lerner apologized for how the agency handled Tea Party-related groups' tax-exempt applications. Her apology was first reported by the Associated Press.

The apology came in advance of the expected release of the critical report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which has been investigating the IRS's treatment of Tea Party groups at the request of Congress. That report is expected this week, but excerpts obtained by USA TODAY provide a timeline investigators compiled through e-mails and interviews with IRS officials.

The timeline shows that on June 29, 2011, Lerner received a briefing on how IRS officials in Cincinnati were dealing with applications for tax-exempt status for Tea Party groups. The briefing paper showed that the IRS was subjecting certain groups to further investigation based on politically loaded terms in the tax-exempt application file. Groups were singled out for enhanced scrutiny if:

â?¢ The words "tea party," "patriots," or "9/12 project" appeared anywhere in the group name or case file;

â?¢ The group's stated issues included government spending, government debt or taxes;

â?¢ The organization had a goal of educating of the public via advocacy or lobbying to "make America a better place to live;"

â?¢ Any statements in the case file critical of how the country is being run.

Under those criteria, 100 groups had their applications sent to a dedicated team of specialists for further investigation -- adding months to the approval process, according to the report.

During the 2011 briefing, Lerner raised concern about those criteria, according to the inspector general's report. So in January 2012, the office sent out a new set of criteria in a BOLO memo -- meaning "be on the lookout" -- for "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement."

The additional scrutiny for Tea Party groups often delayed approvals of their tax-exempt status for months, and the IRS said Friday that about half of all applications affected are still pending.

The Tea Party groups were seeking tax-exempt status under a provision of the tax code for social welfare groups - so called 501(c)(4) organizations. Unlike other charities, these groups are allowed to engage in political advocacy as long as it's not their primary purpose.

The additional information requested of Tea Party groups often included requests for donor lists, which the IRS later admitted was inappropriate and "troubling." Tea Party groups who protested were told they didn't have to submit the information, and those donor lists that were submitted have been destroyed, IRS officials told the inspector general.

IRS officials could not be reached for comment late Saturday. But on Capitol Hill, calls for an investigation intensified.

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax laws, said the committee will hold hearings soon. "We will hold the IRS accountable for its actions," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich.

The inspector general's draft timeline also raises questions about the repeated denials by IRS officials that they were singling out Tea Party groups.

In a March 2012 Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman gave explicit assurances that the IRS was not targeting Tea Party groups. "What's been happening has been the normal back-and-forth that happens with the IRS," he said. "And so, there's absolutely no targeting."

In an April 2012 letter to the House Oversight Committee, Lerner said the IRS's questions to Tea Party groups were "in the ordinary course of the application process."

Tea Party groups said the government's activities were "criminal."

"The IRS lied. They lied before Congress in 2011 and they lied again yesterday. We must know how many more lies they have been telling and how high up the chain the cover-up goes," said Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, in a statement.